Friday, March 08, 2019

Future of Toys / Retail Trends - report from Legoland - Retail keynote ...

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Truth about BlockChain, BitCoins - impact on banking, insurance - BlockC...





I have advised hundreds of the world’s largest corporations on digital trends, and one of the biggest that CEOs and boards are now talking about is Blockchain.  What is Blockchain and what does it mean for us?  Could Blockchain wipe out our business, or will Blockchain help us grow? 
Here is a comment after my recent keynote for the global team of Generali Insurance, on Blockchain.

So what is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a very clever method for making permanent global records, with copies held in many different places, totally safe from corruption, deletion, alteration or cyberattack. 
Blockchain uses the same technology as BitCoin and other so-called cyptocurrencies. 
BitCoin technology was developed to allow a new “virtual” currency to be created, coin by coin, in a way that is permanent, protected, cannot be duplicated or destroyed.  It costs a lot of money, mainly electric power to run computers, to create each BitCoin, so they are rare and have real value.  BitCoins are traded against many other currencies. 

Blockchain developed from BitCoins

BitCoins are also completely anonymous, and impossible to track when used for online payments, as well as completely secure.  
BitCoins are controversial because the system is so strong, that they are now the payment of choice used by many criminal gangs, for drugs, ransom payments, arms deals and so on.
The system works because each payment is registered in an ultra-secure database which cannot ever be altered.  This means that each BitCoin can only be transferred once.  
If you spend a BitCoin, you cannot spend your same BitCoin again.  Once spent, it’s value is registered at the speed of light to another person permanently, using a system that we call BlockChain.  Each “block” is an individual cluster of records, and each “Chain” is a time-stamped sequence of blocks.
But we can use the same registration system for another purpose: to register documents rather than ownership of BitCoins.

Why Blockchain really matters to most industries

Blockchain means that anyone in the world with online access can prove a particular document exists, when it was sent, who it was sent to and so on.  We can also prove that an event has taken place, in a way which is fully transparent to everyone who needs to know this around the world.
The implications of this are going to be huge.  And it will be many years before we work it all out.  We are at a similar stage with Blockchain that we were with the web in 1997. 
A lot of excitement and speculation, and also a lot of uncertainty about how it will affect us all in practice.

Blockchain Boom

There is no doubt that Blockchain has the power to completely transform every financial transaction or legal process, every trade agreement, every insurance claim and every supply chain ordering system.
That is why we are seeing huge investment in Blockchain innovation, inside large companies, and a huge number of new Blockchain startups, especially in FinTech.

Blockchain impact on real estate sales

Consider the complex processes to buy a house.  Legal agreements are exchanged and signed.  Deposits are made, and then final payments.  After this, land ownership records are altered in government archives. 
Each of these processes has to be checked and verified to prevent fraud and protect both buyer and seller.  Each of these steps can be revolutionized using Blockchain.  
And as that happens, we will find we have new ways to validate these steps – no longer the exclusive roles of banks and law firms.
A real estate agent could safely handle the whole thing, backed by Blockchain technology.  Indeed, buyers and sellers could do far more themselves, cutting costs and speeding up transactions by many days or weeks.

Blockchain impact on insurance industry

Fraud is a major challenge in the insurance industry, and means that in many nations people are paying at least 5% more than they should be, just to pay for these losses. 
Blockchain could change all that, as well as cut many other costs.  Take the auto industry and car insurance.  Imagine that every vehicle in the world has its own Blockchain record. 
A global register of your car that contains date of sale, past and current owners, details of every repair, accident or insurance claim. 
We could also create a global register of individuals and their current or past insurance policies, or a global register of all insured businesses and claims.

Automated travel insurance claims driven by Blockchain

Blockchain could mean completely automated insurance: from payment to policy issuing, to triggering a claim, to payout, to confirmation of receipt of payment and closure of the case. 
A traveller could take out insurance against flight cancellation.  The flight record is made automatically, and shows that a cancellation did indeed happen.  
Within seconds, a payment is triggered into the policy holder’s bank account, before the traveller is even aware that the insurance company has been notified.

Blockchain impact on banking and international payments

Blockchain will protect international money transfers.  
I spoke at a global payments conference recently and was shocked to discover how many global payments are still relying on last century tech for tracking – which is why cross-border payments are still so slow and so prone to errors.

Blockchain impact on supply chains and manufacturing

Blockchain could revolutionise supply chains and manufacturing, allowing buyers and sellers to be 100% confident about receipt of legally binding orders and payments, issuing of shipping documents, registration for customs and excise, proof of payment of import taxes.

Blockchain in legal firms and accounting

Legal processes depend fundamentally on proving that certain events have taken place, and in certifying the legal consequencies of those events.
Blockchain means that legal firms can prove that documents have been issued and in what form.  Signed and dated documents can be authenticated in a global secure register. 

Blockchain in digital forensics, compliance and regulatory processes

How do you prove that your digital records are correct?  That the date of an email authorizing action on a health and safety matter is the real date and has not been deliberately altered to avoid a prosecution?  
Blockchain can be used to permanently authenticate the fact of every email sent and received.
Blockchain can be used to validate all investor information, reports, and other important information.

So what happens next with Blockchain?

Expect to see a huge number of experiments with multiple failures along the way. As with all areas of FinTech, we will see common platforms and systems develop, for different industries, using common standards. 
And there will be quite a fight amongst different companies to get scale and dominance of their own industry.
The most successful Blockchain companies will become the industrial or legal or financial “Google’s” of tomorrow, with immense influence and power, and systems which are used in many different parts of society.
The financial rewards will be spectacular for the largest winners in the new Blockchain economy.  At the same time, we will see some spectacular failures and scandals. 

Expect Blockchain and cryptocurrency frauds and scandals

Blockchain is highly complex, depends on sophisticated mathematics and is poorly understood by most small investors or non-technical board members of multinationals. 
BlockChain and cyptocurrencies are both areas open to fraud, misrepresentation and deception on a gigantic scale, and expert advice is needed at every stage before engagement. 

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Future of the Auto Industry - new fuels, engines, robots, ownership mode...

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

Future of Fashion Retail - clothing, mobile marketing, customers - Retai...

Monday, February 08, 2016

Radical changes to marketing in mobile world - Google premier marketing ...

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Future of Payments, Cards, Cash and Banking - ways to reduce banking ris...

Monday, February 24, 2014

How To Prevent Ageing - Stay Young Forever - Future Pharma Health Care ...

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Future of Retail: mobile, multichannel customers, logistics, supply chai...

Thursday, January 23, 2014

How to win customers! Insights from business travel industry, airlines. ...

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Customer disasters (funny) - how to avoid them! Improve sales. Marketing...

Better videoconferencing, cut business travel, more virtual teams -- con...

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

How to Reduce Staff Turnover. Recruit and keep the best. Future of Human...



Monday, September 03, 2012

Do what you believe in! Life is too short! Motivational speaker and key...

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

How to solve global water crisis: Innovation, Green Technology. Water, U...



How global water shortages will be solved. Drought in Australia, America, Asia, China, Africa, Australia. Crop failures, food price rises, hunger and famine. Forest fires and other results of lack of rain. Virtual water -- water used in energy production, manufacturing, agriculture, farming, food production and processing, textiles, pulp and paper industry. River management, with diversions and dam building is only part of solution. Expect huge growth in water conservation in agriculture and manufacturing. Virtual water and water trading as part of the globalisation of products and food. Link between water use and energy generation -- power station cooling for example. How low cost energy could solve water shortages by reducing cost of next-generation desalination. Part of keynote on the $40 trillion green tech revolution which could transform the future of our planet, with innovations that will provide answers to global warming if rolled out on a large enough scale. Impact of technologies already available in energy industry, water conservation, carbon reduction, recycling, power transmission over long distances, alternative power generation, buildings management. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon -- author of SustainAgility book, lecture for Suez Environmental global leadership team.

Friday, November 11, 2011

SustainAgility: Radical Rapid Smart Innovation to protect environment. F...



The $40 trillion green tech revolution could transform the future of our planet, with innovations that will provide answers to global warming if rolled out on a large enough scale. Impact of technologies already available in energy industry, water conservation, carbon reduction, recycling, power transmission over long distances, alternative power generation, buildings management. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon - lecture for Suez Environmental global leadership team.

Marketing Strategy - multichannel mix. Future messages. Marketing trends...



Future marketing strategy is more than about altering a marketing mix for multichannel customers. Marketing needs to change values as well as messaging in a world dominated by instant information and insight / feedback from our online friends and extended social networks. It means an end to hype and spin or exaggerated claims, and a focus on what is true, valid claims, accurate information, detailed feedback from real customers, genuine facts, verifiable data. This a post-marketing world: in the last century, the source of most customer information about products or services came from the marketing team itself. Today, most of the information that a customer ever learns about what you want to sell them is probably coming from other sources. That means we need to completely rethink how we position marketing messages. The very word "marketing" needs rethinking. The future is about personalized, insightful, timely, accurate, sensitive and intuitive advice along the journey of life. Conference keynote speaker and futurist Patrick Dixon, speaking to retail clients of Hermes in the UK on the future of marketing to retail customers.

Mobile Price Comparison: impact on retail customer sales / ecommerce. Re...



Retail impact of online price comparison using mobile devices, smartphones, aggregator sites. Shopping patterns and customer behaviour. Online sales growth from retail sites, where customers compare prices in stores or shopping malls and then buy online or from a competitor store nearby. Aggregator sites will grow rapidly, creating strong price competition, eroding viability of physical retail outlets, especially in electronic consumer goods, white label products, computers, textiles / fashion and in any other area where customers like to try before they buy.

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Digital Marketing - crisis for real estate agents. Multichannel customer...



Future of marketing -- Impact of multichannel marketing on customer behavior. Why old selling patterns are driving customers away. How to alienate consumers rapidly. How to engage customers with your products and services. Lessons from online property aggregator sites and virtual real estate marketing. Future of mobile search, location sensitive marketing, and importance of video in selling. Why 1 in 6 of all Estate Agents lost their jobs last year in Australia. What is the future of real estate agents? How to promote your property, and sell your own home online. Easy ways to get customers to view your property and make a great offer to buy. Impact of Google Maps and other location-based Apps on marketing. Growth of mobile search requests. Lessons for marketing directors and retail executives. Patrick Dixon, conference keynote speaker on future of marketing, multichannel marketing and related trends.

Future of Singapore - and rapid growth of emerging markets across Asia -...



Singapore -- a hub of innovation, energy, infrastructure for business across Asia, able to broker deals, host headquarters. Why Singapore will continue to thrive as an ultra-connected transport hub, with highly skilled workforce. Video comment on Asia future trends by conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon. Singapore is a small nation -- with barely 5 million residents -- so is a relatively neutral base from the political point of view. Singapore has strong legal systems, is stable and an easy place to do business, with many 5 star hotels and a vibrant, dynamic and entrepreneurial culture. Singapore is an easy nation for visitors from the Northern Hemisphere to feel their way around. The country still shows many signs of its British Colonial era -- with newly restored historic buildings, square pin plugs, English-model educational system, and influences on legal and parliamentary systems. Singapore is West-facing and East-facing. Most of the city's up-market Malls are dominated by Western-label brands, with streets that look familiar in style to European or American travellers, while Chinatown is a relatively small area of low-rise shops, eating places and offices with a traditional ethnic feel. Singapore has a great future, and so it is hardly surprising that the numbers of people wanting to work there is growing faster than the government is comfortable with. Work permits are becoming harder for some groups to obtain.Singapore's greatest limitation is land mass: one large island and many small ones. And linked to that is a serious water shortage, which means that despite many new projects, the country remains dependent on buying water from Malaysia.

Future of Retail - 20 key retailing trends - UK consumer changes - Herme...



Retailing trends - in high street, shopping malls, retail outlets, online / e-commerce, mobile marketing, ethical shopping, older consumers, supply chain and logistics, telesales and customer support, home delivery. Retail conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon - at client event organised by Hermes.